After London fire 600 tower blocks feared to have combustible cladding
London — The government is urgently conducting safety checks on an estimated 600 high-rise buildings in Britain which have exterior cladding panels after at least 79 people died when fire consumed a London tower block last week, officials said on Thursday. Cladding, added during a refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, may have played a part in the June 14 disaster when flames sped through the 24-storey residential building, trapping people inside, residents have said. The blaze in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Britain’s worst since the Second World War, has heaped pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May, already fighting for her political survival after her party lost its parliamentary majority in a snap election. The Grenfell tragedy has acted as a focal point for anger at local authority funding cuts. There have been accusations of criminal negligence and, if more buildings are deemed unsafe, the government faces the task of rehoming people within existing social housing...
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